LR man accepts 30-year sentence for molestation

28-year-old serving life term

A 28-year-old Little Rock man serving a federal life sentence for conspiring to sex traffic a six-year-old girl has accepted a 30-year state prison sentence for repeatedly molesting the child, infecting her with sexually transmitted diseases and exposing her to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Sentencing papers filed Thursday show that DeMarcus George pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault, reduced from rape, in exchange for the 30-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, negotiated by deputy prosecutor Reese Lancaster and defense attorney Willard Proctor, the 30-year sentence will run concurrently with the life sentence he received in October from U.S. District Judge Brian Miller. George is appealing his life sentence but he is prohibited from appealing the 30-year term he accepted from Johnson.

According to court records, arrest affidavits and police reports, the Little Rock police probe that resulted in George’s arrest began in February 2018 when the girl’s mother brought her to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where doctors discovered the child had been infected with the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea sometime in the past four months.

Her mother had brought the girl to the hospital due to her symptoms, which the woman told doctors had been diagnosed a couple of weeks earlier as a staph infection. She had brought the girl to Children’s when the symptoms worsened.

A return trip was made to the hospital in June 2018, five months later, when the girl had a fever and a rash and doctors determined she had been infected with chlamydia and syphilis. Her mother blamed the babysitter’s boyfriend, but the investigation led police to George, who was the woman’s boyfriend.

Investigators got a warrant to take blood and urine samples for testing from George in September 2018, which was done following his arrest that month on unrelated charges. He tested positive for HIV.

In a subsequent interview, the girl described how George had repeatedly sexually assaulted her, describing intercourse and sodomy, while her mother was at work.

After a search, George was arrested in May 2019 in Maumelle, where he had been staying with friends. During questioning, George denied touching any children and told investigators he had never been alone with any children.

According to federal prosecutors, the girl identified George and another man, 34-year-old Mario Waters, as having sexually assaulted her. She was also able to describe the motel room where it occurred, including a picture on the wall and a curtain.

Investigators were able to find the hotel, where financial records from the hotel showed that the child’s mother had rented a room there in March 2018 and paid with a credit card. The girl has since been removed from her mother’s custody.

The girl’s doctors told authorities that the number of sexually transmitted diseases the girl was infected with meant that she had likely been abused by more than just one man.

Officers obtained search warrants for George and Waters’ blood and urine. Results indicated that George and Waters tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases that the minor had contracted.

George and Waters were indicted in September 2019, and both pleaded guilty in November 2021. Both defendants admitted in court that they had sexual contact with the minor and were involved in trafficking her with others.

Waters, of North Little Rock, has since recanted his admissions. He remains in custody.